It’s that time of year again – when HIM directors, hospital administrators, and coding managers begin to wonder just how they will be affected come October 1.
The Medicare Outpatient Observation Notice (MOON) finally went into effect after a bumpy start. The MOON was originally set to go into effect August 2016, but the draft version was only released for comment at the beginning of that month.
The 2018 OPPS proposed rule includes potential changes to 340B drug discount payments, the inpatient-only list, packaging for low-level drug administration services, and more.
CMS wants your thoughts on its 2018 OPPS proposed changes. In various places in the proposed rule, CMS specifically asks providers to comment on the proposals. You may submit comments to the agency until September 11, 2017.
You may find significant changes to E/M reporting in the near future, including a pivot away from two key elements — history and physical exam — that largely determine a given level of service for your most common patient encounters.
Now that the fiscal year 2018 ICD-10-CM/PCS codes have been released , let’s consider some of the compliance pitfalls, booby traps, and opportunities that await coders when these new codes are implemented on October 1.
According to a study published in Annals of Emergency Medicine, researchers studying emergency department (ED) visits found that electronic sepsis alert implementation increased ED sepsis detection from 83% to 96%.
James S. Kennedy, MD, CCS, CDIP , explains how ICD-10-CM addresses kidney illness and advises on how to ensure documentation and coding integrity through certain challenges including risk-adjustment methodologies and functional versus anatomic diagnoses.
Adrienne Commeree, CPC, CPMA, CCS, CEMC, CPIP, writes that coding for skin cancers requires understanding the guidelines as well as knowledge of how the conditions are classified in the ICD-10-CM manual. Note: To access this free article, make sure you first register here if you do not have a paid subscription.
